47) Mekedatu & Sangama: (16/12/2011)

Place: Mekedatu & Sangama.

Distance: 100 x 2 = 200kms.

Directions: Bengaluru – Kanakpura – Sangama – Mekedatu.

Particiapants: Madhu (Barca) > Manohar (Notorious) > Karthik (Sp).

Bikes: GS 150> CB Unicorn > Pulsar150.

Previous visit: KanvaReservoir – 2nd anniversary run.
Budget: Rs300.

IN LESS THAN 50 WORDS:

Mekedatu is a dangerous, fast flowing, and scenic water spot. Last visit to this place nearly two years back almost took my leg away, well this time things were different, the forest almost took our legs away ha-ha!!

INTRO & PLAN:

Initially the plan was to visit a reservoir and forest in Tamil Nadu. But like always, we prefer Plan B – unplanned one. Manu & Madhu were the only people on the confirmed list. So after finalizing the people and bikes we crashed.

TIME: 23:00 hrs (15/12/2011)

ASSEMBLE:

As usual I was up at around 05:00 hrs, had a sip of coffee did a few push-ups and was all set go. Manu arrived at my place at about 05:45hrs & as we waited for Madhu, Manu and myself were discussing other options. Manu suggested Mekedatu, as he hadn’t seen the actual place. Though I was taken back at the suggestions after the previous visit to this place, it was time put aside the fear and go back to this wonderful place. We departed as soon as soon as Madhu reached my place.

TIME: 06:45 hrs        

   

RIDE I: (Bengaluru – Kanakpura)

This was a 40-50kms stretch. Madhu said he knew a shortcut to reach Kanakpura Road, so we followed him. Believe me it was one kickass route, through thick trees on mud roads and saved a lot of time. Once we reached Kanakpura road it was just formality, we rode at a decent pace negotiating the curves of NH-209 to perfection to reach the town for breakfast.

TIME: 08:15 hrs

KANAKPURA: (Breakfast stop)

Alright…. We ordered some hot breakfast and coffee. Yeah as we ate the light breakfast, we again had a discussion about the destination. BR hills & Muthati were the among the hot favourites, but finally we decided to stick on to Mekedatu. After the breakfast we hit road without wasting anytime.

TIME: 08:45 hrs

RIDE – II: (Kanakpura - Mekedatu)

This was another 40-50kms stretch, but we took our own sweet time completing this stretch. We made sure we rode slow to enjoy the surroundings and the curves as we had no intentions of returning back home till evening ha-ha!!

We rode at a decent pace, back to back keeping the formation intact. We took lot of pit-stops, sitting on the road, enjoying the fresh air and scenic view all around us.

The final stretch to Mekedatu comprises of 2-3 hairpin curves, we switched of our engines and allowed our bikes to take us for the nest 3-4kms to reach Sangama.

TIME: 10:00 hrs

 

SANGAMA:

First things first, we parked our bikes under a tree. We started fooling around climbing up trees. I guess our basic instincts got the better of us ha-ha. Even the few monkeys at the place were taken aback.

As we moved on, I received another shocker. The place had a complete make over, restaurants, temples, gardens, clear boards, inspection bungalows etc.,

 

Two years back it had and absolute hardcore isolated look, with only on small shop and nothing else.

As we reached the river we were glad that the water level was low. Last visit it was here that I crushed my knee against a boulder as fell into the flowing waters. So I requested Manu who was the tallest among us to carry my bag which had their jackets and other belongings. We cautiously crossed the river and reached the other side.

TIME: 10:15 hrs

 

ADVENTURE WALK:

So…, yeah we had reached the other side. And as we did we heard there was elephants spotting near by :D, there was no stopping me from rushing to the spot. Jumping across the rocky terrain and running we reached the river shore to find these two huge elephants on the other side i.e from the Muthati forest.

Alright…, there are two ways of reaching Mekedatu after you cross Sangama. One way is the normal way by taking the bus and then there’s our way by picking up basic tools like a stick and a knife and walking 12-15kms through the forest filled with snakes and other wild creatures.

     

As we started the walk, we picked up our sticks and started chatting and cracking jokes. The trees were initially lean but as we proceeded it got real thick and we felt completely isolated. The silence was something we were enjoying but yeah it was scary too.

We were eagerly waiting for some wild animal to jump out of the forest when all of a sudden Manu and me who were in front felt the ground trembling (just like in the movies). As we turned back we could see Madhu, and yeah behind him was a sight I won’t be forgetting for a long long time.

 

About 30-40 huge bulls were charging right at us, in a matter of seconds we jumped out the muddy trail & hopped onto some rocky terrain beside the fast flowing waters. Trust me we were saved by a whisker :)

We waited for the gang to pass and then we resumed. After about 30 minutes of another isolated walk we encountered them again. Believe me they meant business, few of them actually turned back and started walking towards us. So we decided to go off the off-road :P. We continued along the fast flowing waters on the rocky terrain and rejoined the path only to find more bulls.

 

Alright…, we worked out a detailed plan and the plan was simple “walk right past it :P”… and thankfully it worked as we didn’t make any sudden movements to piss it off.

Finally the forest adventure ended as we reached Mekdatu :)

(Yeah all these encounters with bulls might sound funny, but trust me we had the same notion of bulls as simple creatures but this was something else)

TIME: 11:45 hrs

MEKEDATU:

Ah yeah there she was eagerly waiting for my arrival. We took some rest at the sit out and started to descend the rocky steps. We spotted a small snake on the steps but it was not worth the catch so we moved on to reach the place. And guess what, we were the only 3 at the entire place. Yup we were very glad to have the place for ourselves, and yeah it also meant extra dangerous.

We removed our shoes and started to explore with caution as the force of the water was simply terrifying, the thunderous roar of the water hitting the rocks could be heard during the walk only. Madhu & Manu were totally happy & satisfied with the place; I mean yeah it was worth all the efforts put into the walk. Continuing further we reached the final tip of Mekedatu where the water splits by hitting a boulder on which we were happily sitting.

  

We were at the tip; the clear instructions were no stupid and foolish tricks as nobody was around. We started fooling around, Manu and madhu threw their sticks into the water to examine the force, after further fooling around we took a small 20mins nap on the boulder.

After a while we woke up safely thankfully not falling off our beds haha!! We headed back to the sit out. We didn’t even have water in the bottle, so took extra rest and decided to walk back through the forest.

TIME: 13:00 hrs

ADVENTURE WALK 2:

As we walked back, my right knee which had problems from the start snapped. But we continued further and Madhu and Manu suggested we visit another spot along the way. And there she was Mekedatu-2 aKa Goatiedatu.

GOATIE-DATU: (Mekedatu-2)

Well yeah the name was coined by us only. But yeah this place was simply brilliant; it had a balance of fast flowing waters and small peaceful streams. The water was crystal clear and first thing we did was quench our thirst. Further we washed our faces and started to explore the place to find trees fallen down due to the force, small falls etc.,

We spent some quality time at this place and as we left the place found my shoe sole had a huge crack in it and my right knee was in deep shit pain.

TIME:  13:45 hrs

 

ADVENTURE WALK 3:

As we continued further, we kept laughing all the way to find the biggest hurdle of the trip. About 100-130 bulls were on either side of the muddy trail. And as per the day’s proceedings, even a tiger seemed less dangerous than these creatures. Slowly without any sudden movements we started the 10min walk (literally) amidst the bulls smiling at every creature ha-ha!!

Once we were out, we spotted a snake but unfortunately couldn’t catch it as it disappeared into the woods. We continued further taking a shortcut to reach Sangama.

TIME: 14:30 hrs

 

SANGAMA:

As we reached Sangama, Madhu & Manu jumped into the waters for a much needed rest as I sat ashore. After spending about 30-40mins we crossed back the river cautiously to reach our bikes. And yeah I still had my stick with me (latter it had a name too:P), it was all ready to ride back to Bangalore with us as well.

TIME:15:30 hrs

RIDE III: (Sangama- Kanakpura)

This was about 40 kms stretch. We rode at a decent pace without taking any breaks to reach Kanakpura hotel for a much deserved lunch.

We entered the hotel limping, and ordered a very heavy lunch, ah yeas it tasted so much better since we had earned it totally. After a heavy Oota we washed our faces and left.

TIME: 16:45 hrs

 

RIDE: IV: (Kanakpura – Bengaluru)

This was about 50kms formality stretch; all we had to do was stay awake as we had eaten a very lunch. As the sun started going down, the shadow formed on the road as we rode is something you should have a look. Haha we looked like warriors. We did some smooth riding on NH-209 to reach Bengaluru.

TIME: 17:45 hrs

Sat at the NICE road exit and spoke for about 30mins and left to reach our respective homes.

TIME: 18:30 hrs

 

CONCLUSION:

“Well this was one kickass adventure, on of the best till date. It surely stands up with the other adventures like 

Pearlvalley - In search of Elephants, 

Skandagiri night trek - Misty Death trek, 

Kabbalu trek - Peak into the next life, 

TG reservoir - Fun run etc.,

It was crazy on the part of us to walk 12-15kms through the forest encountering snakes and bulls but  trust me it was worth all of it”

PARTICIPANT VIEW:

MANU: Led the way throughout and it was him who suggested this place else we wouldn’t have had such a great adventure.

MADHU: Known for his reserved nature, but this time kept the spirits up with his jokes and not forget his golden find “Goatie-datu”.

SP: Brought back the “Weapon of mass destruction”, ( Haha now you know what the stick has been named)

Until next time, ta-da Ciaa\m/

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